Suzie the first Scottish
Fold cat was discovered in 1961, at a farm near Coupar Angus in the Tayside
Region of Scotland Northwest of Dundee. She was a white barn cat with ears
that folded downward and forward
on her head. Her face resembled
an “owl” or an “otter’s face”.
A shepherd by the name of William
Ross first noticed Susie’s
unique ears at a neighbour’s
barn.
Since William and Mary, his wife,
where Cat Fanciers they were fascinated with Susie. A year later Susie
and a local tom had a litter
of two folded ear kittens and
the Ross’s acquired the female and
named her Snooks. Snooks son
was bred to a British Shorthair and
so began the breed known today
as the Scottish Fold.
At this time the breed was registered
with the Governing Council of
the Cat Fancy in great Britain.
In the mid sixties, Pat Turner,
a cat breeder and geneticist,
became involved in the development of
the Fold. Over the next 3 years
she oversaw the breeding, which
produced 76 kittens of which
42 had folded ears and
34 had straight ears.
Pat Turner and Peter Dyte, another
British geneticist,
agreed that the gene mutation
for folded ears is a simple dominant.
This means that if a kitten inherits
a gene from one parent for
straight ears and one from a
parent with the gene for folded ears
it will be a fold.
They also learned that the original
cats carried the longhair gene.
Susie was a loose fold, which
means the tips of her ears bent
forward about halfway up the
ear. This is now called a single fold.
Today’s fold have ears folds
ranging from the loose single fold to
the very tight triple fold, which
is seen in the show quality cats.
A faction in the British Cat
Fancy felt the Scottish Fold would
be prone to ear infections and
deafness. They campaigned to prevent
their acceptance for registry
in Great Britain. Folds are still
not accepted for registry in
registries in Europe.
Mrs Ross arranged for some of
her folds to be shipped to Neil Todd. Ph.D., a geneticist in Newtonville,
MA in the early seventy’s.
The first American born litter
arrived Nov.30th 1971.
After his study ended, some folded
kittens were given first one CFA breeder who gave some to another, until
the shorthair Scottish Fold
were accepted by ACA for registration
in 1973, ACFA and
CFA in 1974, TICA was the first
registry to recognized the longhairs
for championship competition
in the 1987-88 show season and
CFA followed in 1993-94.
Although the Ross’s had to give
up their efforts in their own country
to develop and raise these adorable
cats, they will always be regarded
as the founders of the breed.
Description
After two decades of out crossing
to American and British Shorthairs,
the Scottish Fold has developed
a look of its own.
It is a medium sized cat with
a rounded, well-padded body and
a short, dense and resilient
coat.
Males in the range of 5 – 7 kilos
and females in the range
of 3 – 5 kilos. It has large,
round, broadly spaced eyes full
of sweetness. Well-rounded whisker
pads and a short nose with
a gentle curve in profile.
A Fold can have straight medium
sized ears to small tightly
folded ears with wide range in
the degree of the fold.
The ear tips will be rounded
on the tip.
The jaw is firm and well rounded.
Sometimes the curve of the mouth
around their
prominent whisker pads gives
the appearance of a “smiling cat”.
As you can see from the description
the Scottish Fold’s head
should look round in all ways.
The Scottish Fold can be found
in both the shorthair and
longhaired version. The longhaired
Scottish Fold has
a semi-long coat of variable
length, which should sport
a nice ruff on the males. Leg
britches and a huge fluffy tail.
Scottish Folds can be found in
almost every colour and
combination of colours with &without
white and point colours.
The brown tabby & white Scottish
Fold is probably the most
well known colour but they can
be found in everyone’s favourite colours.
Temperament
The Scottish Fold is a sweet
natured cat who is usually
quiet voiced and loves to help
supervise whatever you happen to
be doing. Their activity level
is in the medium range. They love to
play but usually expect you to
be involved in the fun and games.
While not every Fold will be
a lap fungus, they will usually
be found close to you. Scottish
Folds love to sleep flat on
their backs and can often be
found sitting up looking very
much like an otter.
Scottish Fold adapt to almost
any home situation and are as
comfortable in a room full of
noisy children and dogs as they
are in a single person’s dwelling.
They don’t usually panic at shows
or in a strange hotel room, and
they adjust to other
animals extremely well.
The Scottish Fold is an undemanding
cat. A clean environment,
proper nutrition and generous
doses of love are its only requirements.
Kittens
Scottish Fold kittens are born
with straight ears.
At about three to four weeks
of age, their fold….
Or they don’t.
It is usually around eleven to
twelve weeks of age that
the breeder can determine the
quality (pet, breeder or show).
Both folded and straits ears
will have to be recognised at part
of this breed, since the strait
ears are invaluable to the
breeding program.
Is this breed for me?
If you like a very active cat
and very much aloof,
then NO, the Scottish Fold is
not for you.
If you want a cat that wants
to know what you are doing and
why you aren’t paying attention
to him.
Then YES You will probably do
well with a Scottish Fold.
Scottish Fold want to be with
you and will not de well if left alone for long periods of time. If you
work long hours, you might want
to consider getting a Scottish
Fold a playmate.
It could be a pair of Folds or
it could be a British or any other breed. They will keep each other from
getting lonely and will be twice
the love and devotion when you
are home.
